Effects of poverty on academic failure and delinquency in boys: A change and process model approach

Using data from the Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study, we examined t he impact of poverty (and its correlate, family configuration status) on ac ademic placement and self-reported delinquency in boys at age 16. We then i nvestigated whether the relation between family economic hardship and antis ocial behaviour is direct or indirect by considering the value of parenting practices and academic failure as process variables in the model. Data inc luded official records, and parent, teacher, and self-reports. The temporal intensity of poverty was classified into five categories: never-poor; alwa ys-poor; poor-earlier; poor-later; and transitory-poverty, Family configura tion status was classified by both temporal characteristics and number of m arital transitions: intact-family; short-term-single; longterm-single; shor t-term-remarried; long-term-remarried; and multiple-marital-transitions. Re sults revealed that when maternal education and early childhood behaviour w ere controlled, poverty had an effect on both academic failure and extreme delinquency. This effect was independent of family configuration status. Al though they both significantly predicted extreme delinquency on their own, academic failure and parental supervision did not mediate the relationship between poverty and delinquency. Divorce increased the risk of theft and fi ghting at age 16, regardless of financial hardship. Parental supervision on ly helped explain the effects of divorce on boys' fighting.